Christmas Eve

I wanted to post some pictures from our Christmas Eve with Pete's mother.

She was gracious and allowed me to host her for a noon meal instead of us going to her house late in the day, as we have for the last 13 years.  Now that our kids are older we wanted to go to our church's evening Christmas service.  Switching things around made that possible.

Our traditional Polish (meatless) Christmas Eve feast:

Barszcz (red beet soup served hot) with mini mushroom pierogies
Garlic and Dill Tilapia
2 kinds of European style bread
Pickled Herring with Onions
Polish Vegetable Salad
Deviled Eggs and Dill Pickles
Nalesniki (Crepes stuffed with mushroom or dessert-style with jam and sour cream)
and Cheesecake served with strong coffee

It's a lot of work preparing for meals like this, but pulling out the special china and teacups, and enjoying these traditional dishes means alot to Pete and his family, and it's a part of his heritage I hope our kids appreciate and continue as first generationers.

POLAND, Part 7: Wieliczka Salt Mine

Our guide book estimates that salt was excavated here as early as the 11th century.  !!!



Located 30 minutes by bus east of Krakow, Wieliczka has a beautiful hotel with fine dining, outdoor eating area and visitor center, and a museum housed 400 feet underground.  It was a great way to spend our last day in Poland. 

You may be wondering what happened to our plans (my personal goal) to hike to Morskie Oko, the twin glacial lakes in the Tatra Mountains, in the southern border town of Zakopane. 



Well...blame it on the heat wave.  At first I didn't want to abandon our plans, but as the week went on, the daily highs were still reaching the upper 80's and low 90's and we were tiring from our travels (we must be getting old!).  Spending our last day in the natural AC of Wieliczka just sounded more inviting than a 2 hour hike, and Zakopane is very touristy and crowded at this time of year.

Someday, Morskie Oko...(sigh)...someday.

Again we arrived early, which was definately to our benefit!  We realized this after our tour of the mines concluded around 10am and we came up out of the elevator shaft to incredibly long lines--gobs of people waiting to buy a timed entrance ticket.

We started by climbing down 40+ sets of stairs (an elevator would take us back up at the end) and walking through salt-encrusted corridors with carved salt figures and models showcasing the old mining methods and tools.





Immediately we noticed the dry coolness of the mine.  There wasn't that damp feeling that you'd expect underground.  Sometimes the wooden supports were painted, but mostly they were unfinished.





An enormous network of underground galleries and chambers was created here over the centuries. Salt was also used as a building material in the carving of underground chapels and altars in front of which miners prayed for God's providence and protection against accidents.

Then came the chapel of all chapels!  (Again my pictures completely minimizes how huge it was.)
Left side:



Right side:



These murals carved into the chapel walls were amazing.  The one of the Last Supper is supposedly only 4 inches deep.



Some shots along our meandering tour.  I kind of like the ones I took without flash, even if they are alittle blurry.
Looking way down into a corkscrew chamber.



And looking back up at where we'd just been...

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And that, dear friends, is the last of the pictures from our trip.  However, check back tomorrow for one more related post.  :-)

POLAND, Part 6: Wawel Castle and Kazimierz

From Krakow's Old Town Market Square, we walked southeast a few blocks to get to Wawel Castle, where Kazimierz the Great and kings before him resided. 

The numerous buildings, courtyards and cathedrals date back to at least the early part of the 16th century and showcase beautiful examples of Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque architecture.

It was a hike just to reach the entrance!

We circled the outside before heading inward.  And we chose not to visit any of the interior exhibits, you had to pay for those.  There was plenty to delight the eye outside.

The Vistula River winds back and forth along the south side of Krakow.
(These 3 pictures show the view to the south, from left to right) 

Behind the tree on the far left of this picture lies Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter.  Across the river and directly ahead is the former Jewish Ghetto and Oskar Schindler's factory.

 Straight ahead and to the right in this picture is the direction of Krakow's airport and the road to Oswiecim (westward).

Lends new meaning to Psalm 59:16~

But I will sing of your strength;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress

and a refuge in the day of my distress.

This gives you alittle bit of an idea of how you kept climbing, the further you went into the castle.

 One of the interior garden courtyards.

From there we walked through a long arched tunnel...

...and into this breathtaking courtyard.  (left to right)

 

I loved all the cobblestone.  (I just wasn't as brave as the local women who wore heels everywhere!)

 Back out into the garden courtyard to enjoy the other side.

 As were were leaving Wawel Castle, we happened to see one of our friends from the wedding!!!  Eduard (the South African/Australian, working in Romainia) was about to tour the castle himself but decided he'd rather join us for a venture into Kazimierz.  What a small world, huh?!

So we walked a number of blocks further south into the Jewish Quarter.

 This is a primary school.

We crossed the Vistula River bridge in search of Oskar Schindler's factory, and eventually found it, though we only looked around the lobby.  It was getting close to noon, and we had decided to hike back up to the Old Town Market Quarter for lunch at a restaurant Pete's brother had told us about.

Tucked away in a basement accessed through a corridor and interior courtyard, we have no idea how Tek had found the place to begin with, but it was really interesting!  Lots of Polish handiwork and photos adorned the walls, which were wooden boards mounted on top of straw matting.  (Picture wooden planks instead of stone or brick, with straw in the place of mortar.)  Lanterns hung from either end of cattle yokes, suspended from the ceiling.  An authentic Polish kitchen and bedstead/cradle stood in one corner, and a taxidermied wild boar in another! 

My picture doesn't come close to capturing how delightfully different this place was.

Pete ordered kotlety (which is a pork cutlet pounded really thin and breaded before browned in a pan) served with potatoes and dill.  I went for the minced pork perogies with sour cream that Tek had recommended.  They were delicious!  You could tell they were homemade because the dough was super thin.  My apologies to those of you that like Mrs. T's--but you don't know what you're missing until you have the real thing!

I have no idea how many miles (or kilometers) we walked that day, but we were on our feet all day, and I got a nice little sunburn.

We said goodbye to Eduard after lunch, then spent the afternoon in the Old Town Square shopping for Polish pottery, T-shirts for the kids, a new wallet for Pete, and earrings for me.  (Poland is known for it's abundance of amber.  It exists naturally in shades of yellow, orange, brown, and green.)

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Tomorrow's post: POLAND, Part 7: Wieliczka Salt Mine

POLAND, Part 5: Krakow's Old Town

Rynek Glowny is Krakow's Old Town Market Square.
And it was less than a 5 minute walk from our hostel.  AWESOME.

We spent all of Wednesday, as well as a few evenings, exploring it's streets and revelling in it's charm.  It is an absolutely enormous square, the largest in all of Europe, and during WWII the German Governor General had his headquarters in Krakow.  That's why it was spared the destruction that the rest of the country experienced.

In the middle of the square (roughly the size of 12 football fields) is a long building called the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) with souvenir shops on the ground level, an art gallery upstairs and a cafe that extends onto the terrace.

Looking in:



Looking out:

More of the Sukiennice, by night and in the early morning hours...

The view from the cafe terrace, left to right:

This is what we were enjoying along with the view:

More sights from the square:





I love, love, LOVE wrought iron.  So it's no wonder that I have so many pictures of lamps, gates, and such.
Because I'm guessing you're not interested in 18 shots of that sort of thing, here are just two of my favorites.





I also adore red geraniums, and they were in abundance.   Give me a window that has been weathered and abused through the years and stick some geraniums and sheer white embroidered curtains with it and I can't help myself.  It calls to me and I simply must take a picture of it!  :-)

Another ornate facade:

Krakow's University:

Pete found the statue of Copernicus, and a little courtyard ajacent to the University, where there were a few sciency things.  Apparently all the wrought iron and geraniums weren't sufficient for him.  :-)

Pete, his brother, and mom took a road trip to Hungary in one of these cars when the boys were young teenagers.  Pete said that even then, when he and his brother sat in the front, their shoulders touched.

A milk bar is an establishment from the communist era.  It is basically a restaurant that serves simple, Polish staple dishes at rock bottom prices.  Ordinary folks, homeless, drunks, and tourists who want to step back into bygone days are the usual customers.  We happened to walk past this one at 7am after we had just finished breakfast.

We had discovered an open air farmer's market 2 blocks from our hostel, so each morning we walked there for some Turkish style coffee--you let the grounds settle to the bottom--along with some delicious Polish breakfast bread/pastries.  I hesitate to call them pastries, because they only have a hint of sweetness.  Some fruit, a little bit of soft cheese, and/or poppyseed paste.  (I didn't take a picture though.  Too busy licking my fingers.)

Another smaller square adjacent to the Main Market Square:

Cobblestone E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E

And finally, there is a tree-covered park that surrounds the entire Old Town.  A refreshing spot to escape the sun, ride bike, people watch, or take an evening stroll.